Engineering Commons^™

Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Balance And Walking Improvements In An Adolescent With Cerebral Palsy (Gmfcs Ii) And Autism After Motor-Assisted Elliptical Training, Guilherme Manna Cesar, Thad W. Buster, Judith M. Burnfield

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Purpose: To quantify the impact of motor-assisted elliptical (ICARE) training on cardiorespiratory fitness, balance and walking function of an adolescent with walking limitations due to cerebral palsy.

Materials and methods: A thirteen-year-old boy with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification System II) and autism participated. Peak oxygen consumption (peak VO₂, primary outcome measure), oxygen cost of walking, Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), modified Timed Up and Go (mTUG), 2-Minute Walk Test (2MWT), and gait characteristics (speed, cadence, step length, single support time) were assessed prior to and after completion of 24 sessions of moderate- to vigorous- intensity ICARE …

Prediction Of Molecular Mutations In Diffuse Low-Grade Gliomas Using Mr Imaging Features, Zeina A. Shboul, James Chen, Khan M. Iftekharrudin

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Diffuse low-grade gliomas (LGG) have been reclassified based on molecular mutations, which require invasive tumor tissue sampling. Tissue sampling by biopsy may be limited by sampling error, whereas non-invasive imaging can evaluate the entirety of a tumor. This study presents a non-invasive analysis of low-grade gliomas using imaging features based on the updated classification. We introduce molecular (MGMT methylation, IDH mutation, 1p/19q co-deletion, ATRX mutation, and TERT mutations) prediction methods of low-grade gliomas with imaging. Imaging features are extracted from magnetic resonance imaging data and include texture features, fractal and multi-resolution fractal texture features, and volumetric features. Training models include …

Towards Stable Electrochemical Sensing For Wearable Wound Monitoring, Sohini Roychoudhury

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wearable biosensing has the tremendous advantage of providing point-of-care diagnosis and convenient therapy. In this research, methods to stabilize the electrochemical sensing response from detection of target biomolecules, Uric Acid (UA) and Xanthine, closely linked to wound healing, have been investigated. Different kinds of materials have been explored to address such detection from a wearable, healing platform. Electrochemical sensing modalities have been implemented in the detection of purine metabolites, UA and Xanthine, in the physiologically relevant ranges of the respective biomarkers. A correlation can be drawn between the concentrations of these bio-analytes and wound severity, thus offering probable quantitative insights …

Seeing Eye To Eye: A Machine Learning Approach To Automated Saccade Analysis, Maigh Attre

Honors Scholar Theses

Abnormal ocular motility is a common manifestation of many underlying pathologies particularly those that are neurological. Dynamics of saccades, when the eye rapidly changes its point of fixation, have been characterized for many neurological disorders including concussions, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and Parkinson’s disease. However, widespread saccade analysis for diagnostic and research purposes requires the recognition of certain eye movement parameters. Key information such as velocity and duration must be determined from data based on a wide set of patients’ characteristics that may range in eye shapes and iris, hair and skin pigmentation [36]. Previous work on saccade analysis has …

Applications Of Supervised Machine Learning In Autism Spectrum Disorder Research: A Review, Kayleigh K. Hyde, Marlena N. Novack, Nicholas Lahaye, Chelsea Parlett-Pelleriti, Raymond Anden, Dennis R. Dixon, Erik Linstead

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research has yet to leverage "big data" on the same scale as other fields; however, advancements in easy, affordable data collection and analysis may soon make this a reality. Indeed, there has been a notable increase in research literature evaluating the effectiveness of machine learning for diagnosing ASD, exploring its genetic underpinnings, and designing effective interventions. This paper provides a comprehensive review of 45 papers utilizing supervised machine learning in ASD, including algorithms for classification and text analysis. The goal of the paper is to identify and describe supervised machine learning trends in ASD literature as …

Healthcare Robotics: Key Factors That Impact Robot Adoption In Healthcare, Sujatha Alla, Pilar Pazos

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In the current dynamic business environment, healthcare organizations are focused on improving patient satisfaction, performance, and efficiency. The healthcare industry is considered a complex system that is highly reliant of new technologies to support clinical as well as business processes. Robotics is one of such technologies that is considered to have the potential to increase efficiency in a wide range of clinical services. Although the use of robotics in healthcare is at the early stages of adoption, some studies have shown the capacity of this technology to improve precision, accessibility through less invasive procedures, and reduction of human error during …

Feature-Guided Deep Radiomics For Glioblastoma Patient Survival Prediction, Zeina A. Shboul, Mahbubul Alam, Lasitha Vidyaratne, Linmin Pei, Mohamed I. Elbakary, Khan M. Iftekharuddin

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Glioblastoma is recognized as World Health Organization (WHO) grade IV glioma with an aggressive growth pattern. The current clinical practice in diagnosis and prognosis of Glioblastoma using MRI involves multiple steps including manual tumor sizing. Accurate identification and segmentation of multiple abnormal tissues within tumor volume in MRI is essential for precise survival prediction. Manual tumor and abnormal tissue detection and sizing are tedious, and subject to inter-observer variability. Consequently, this work proposes a fully automated MRI-based glioblastoma and abnormal tissue segmentation, and survival prediction framework. The framework includes radiomics feature-guided deep neural network methods for tumor tissue segmentation; followed …

Multivariate Analysis For The Quantification Of Transdermal Volatile Organic Compounds In Humans By Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell System, Ahmed Hasnain Jalal

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) sensor was investigated for specific detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for point-of-care (POC) diagnosis of the physiological conditions of humans. A PEMFC is an electrochemical transducer that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. A Redox reaction takes place at its electrodes whereas the volatile biomolecules (e.g. ethanol) are oxidized at the anode and ambient oxygen is reduced at the cathode. The compounds which were the focus of this investigation were ethanol (C₂H₅OH) and isoflurane (C₃H₂ClF₅O), but theoretically, the sensor …

In Vitro Cytocompatibility Of Antibacterial Levels Of Polymer Nitric Oxide Release, Rana Gbyli, Christina Zito, Kagya Amoako

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Although the antibacterial property of nitric oxide (NO) has been well documented in gram positive and gram negative bacteria cultures, its cytotoxic effects are not completely clear. To limit potential in vivo cytotoxicity, our group recently investigated the effects of a range of NO fluxes on S. epidermidis and S. aureus to determine a minimum effective NO level. In this study, we report the antibacterial function of this minimum NO level also on gram negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as its cytocompatibility effects on lung and kidney cells. Standardized bacterial cultures were treated with NO releasing PDMS substrates followed by …

Surgical And Medical Applications Of Drones: A Comprehensive Review, Brent Terwilliger, James C. Rosser Jr., Vudatha Vignesh, Brett C. Parker

Publications

Drones have the ability to gather real time data cost effectively, to deliver payloads and have initiated the rapid evolution of many industrial, commercial, and recreational applications. Unfortunately, there has been a slower expansion in the field of medicine. This article provides a comprehensive review of current and future drone applications in medicine, in hopes of empowering and inspiring more aggressive investigation.

Super‐Resolution Imaging Of Amyloid Structures Over Extended Times By Using Transient Binding Of Single Thioflavin T Molecules, Kevin Spehar, Tianben Ding, Yuanzi Sun, Niraja Kedia, Jin Lu, George R. Nahass, Matthew D. Lew, Jan Bieschke

Electrical & Systems Engineering Publications and Presentations

Oligomeric amyloid structures are crucial therapeutic targets in Alzheimer's and other amyloid diseases. However, these oligomers are too small to be resolved by standard light microscopy. We have developed a simple and versatile tool to image amyloid structures by using thioflavin T without the need for covalent labeling or immunostaining. The dynamic binding of single dye molecules generates photon bursts that are used for fluorophore localization on a nanometer scale. Thus, photobleaching cannot degrade image quality, allowing for extended observation times. Super‐resolution transient amyloid binding microscopy promises to directly image native amyloid by using standard probes and record amyloid dynamics …

Migration Resistance Of Esophageal Stents: The Role Of Stent Design, Hozhabr Mozafari, Pengfei Dong, Shijia Zhao, Yonghua Bi, Xinwei Han, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Objective: Stenting is one of the major treatments for malignant esophageal cancer. However, stent migration compromises clinical outcomes. A flared end design of the stent diminishes its migration. The goal of this work is to quantitatively characterize stent migration to develop new strategies for better clinical outcomes.

Methods: An esophageal stent with flared ends and a straight counterpart were virtually deployed in an esophagus with asymmetric stricture using the finite element method. The resulted esophagus shape, wall stress, and migration resistance force of the stent were quantified and compared.

Results: The lumen gain for both the flared stent and the …

Distribution And Localization Of Novel Iodine Nanoparticles In The Human Glioma 1242 Growing In The Brains Of Mice, Benjamin Billings

Honors Scholar Theses

Observing and designing the in vivo distribution and localization of therapeutic nanoparticles is an essential aspect of developing and understanding novel nanoparticle- based medical treatments. This study investigates novel PEGylated Iodine-based nanoparticles (INPs), an alternate composition to the more widely researched gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which may help avoid adverse effects associated with AuNPs, such as potential toxicity and skin discoloration, when used in similar applications. Determining the localization of the novel INPs within murine brains containing human glioma U-1242MG cells is critical in assisting the development of radiation dose enhancement therapy for this aggressive cancer. Radiation dose enhancement utilizes the …

Effects Of 8-Week Sensory Electrical Stimulation Combined With Motor Training On Eeg-Emg Coherence And Motor Function In Individuals With Stroke, Li-Ling Hope Pan, Wen-Wen Yang, Mei-Wun Tsai, Shun-Hwa Wei, Felipe Fregni, Vincent Chiun-Fan Chen, Li-Wei Chou

Engineering Science Faculty Publications

The peripheral sensory system is critical to regulating motor plasticity and motor recovery. Peripheral electrical stimulation (ES) can generate constant and adequate sensory input to influence the excitability of the motor cortex. The aim of this proof of concept study was to assess whether ES prior to each hand function training session for eight weeks can better improve neuromuscular control and hand function in chronic stroke individuals and change electroencephalography-electromyography (EEG-EMG) coherence, as compared to the control (sham ES). We recruited twelve subjects and randomly assigned them into ES and control groups. Both groups received 20-minute hand function training twice …

Design Of A Distributed Real-Time E-Health Cyber Ecosystem With Collective Actions: Diagnosis, Dynamic Queueing, And Decision Making, Yanlin Zhou

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, we develop a framework for E-health Cyber Ecosystems, and look into different involved actors. The three interested parties in the ecosystem including patients, doctors, and healthcare providers are discussed in 3 different phases. In Phase 1, machine-learning based modeling and simulation analysis is performed to remotely predict a patient's risk level of having heart diseases in real time. In Phase 2, an online dynamic queueing model is devised to pair doctors with patients having high risk levels (diagnosed in Phase 1) to confirm the risk, and provide help. In Phase 3, a decision making paradigm is proposed …

Renal Granulomatosis Post Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Therapy For Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer, Karen Tran-Harding, Rashmi T. Nair, Halemane S. Ganesh

Radiology Faculty Publications

Intravesical Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy is a proven, effective treatment for intermediate- and high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Minor side effects are common and expected but systemic effects can occur in < 5% of treated patients. We present a rare case of a 49-year-old male that presented with fever and chills after 3 weeks of intravesical BCG therapy post transurethral resection of bladder tumor. New renal lesions were present on contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan which was histologically proven to be necrotizing renal granulomatosis.

Optical Coherence Tomography Application To Alopecia In The Scalp, Elizabeth Melcher

Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) Program 2017-18

Alopecia is the loss of hair, whether it be from the scalp or other regions of the body. Current techniques used to best diagnose and track alopecia are often invasive, requiring a biopsy for results. The use of the OCT, or optical coherence tomography, could drastically improve a patient’s experience in undergoing a diagnosis while proving accurate results. The objective of this study is to develop diagnostic algorithms for the rapid, non-invasive diagnosis of alopecia with OCT. The first step is collecting OCT images of a healthy scalp to understand the anatomical structures with the imaging technique.

Creating A Mock Environment For The Real World, Maggie Berkey, Katherine Koepke, Cindy Gruwell

Library Faculty Publications

College programs have many needs and often minimal

funding. The purpose of this collaborative project was to

creatively meet the needs of the St Cloud Technical and

Community College_s biomedical equipment technology

students_ hands-on learning experience and at the same

time the maintenance of equipment in the St Cloud

State University Nursing Department and St Cloud

Technical and Community College Clinical Departments.

This working collaborative established between the 2

schools resulted in a win-win situation for all. Biomedical

equipment technology students repaired equipment and

created an inventory while providing real-time customer

service, and the nursing/clinical departments appreciated

quick and consistent …

Tissue Stresses In Stented Coronary Arteries With Different Geometries: Effect Of The Relation Between Stent Length And Lesion Length, Xiang Shen, Song Ji, Yong-Quan Deng, Hong-Fei Zhu, Jia-Bao Jiang, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

In-stent restenosis after stent deployment remains an obstruction in the long-term benefits of stenting. This study sought to investigate the influence of the relation between stent length and lesion length on the mechanics of the arterial wall with different geometries, including straight and tapered vessels. Results showed that when the length of the stent was longer than the lesion length, the maximum stress in plaque and vessel increased as the length of stent increased. When the length of the stent was shorter than the lesion length, the vessel stress induced by stent inflation was lower; both ends of the stenosis …

Quantitative Yttrium-90 Bremsstrahlung Spect/Ct And Pet/Ct Study For 3d Dosimetry In Radiomicrosphere Therapy, Senait Aknaw Debebe

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Liver cancer ranks the third most common cause of cancer related mortality worldwide. Radiomicrosphere therapy (RMT), a form of radiation therapy, involves administration of Yttrium-90 (90Y) microspheres to the liver via the hepatic artery. 90Y microspheres bremsstrahlung SPECT/CT or PET/CT imaging could potentially identify an extrahepatic uptake. An early detection of such an uptake, thus, could initiate preventative measures early on. However, the quantitative accuracy of bremsstrahlung SPECT/CT images is limited by the wide and continuous energy spectrum of 90Y bremsstrahlung photons. 90Y PET/CT imaging is also possible but limited by the extremely small internal pair production decay. These limitation …

Frequency Sensitive Mechanism In Low-Intensity Ultrasound Enhanced Bioeffects, April D. Miller, Abdoulkadri Chama, Tobias M. Louw, Anuradha Subramanian, Hendrik J. Viljoen

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

This study presents two novel theoretical models to elucidate frequency sensitive nuclear mechanisms in low-intensity ultrasound enhanced bioeffects. In contrast to the typical 1.5 MHz pulsed ultrasound regime, our group previously experimentally confirmed that ultrasound stimulation of anchored chondrocytes at resonant frequency maximized gene expression of load inducible genes which are regulatory markers for cellular response to external stimuli. However, ERK phosphorylation displayed no frequency dependency, suggesting that the biochemical mechanisms involved in enhanced gene expression is downstream of ERK phosphorylation. To elucidate such underlying mechanisms, this study presents a theoretical model of an anchored cell, representing an in vitro …

Pediatric Leukemia: Diagnosis To Treatment–A Review, Samantha C. Bernard, Ehab H. Abdelsamad, Paisley A. Johnson, Daniel L. Chapman, Madhukiran Parvathaneni

Faculty Works

Leukemia is cancer of the blood and bone marrow, it is the most common cancer found in children and is found to be more than one fourth of pediatric cancers. It causes white blood cells to become abnormal and the body to become weak. This deficiency in the immune system reduces the body's ability to fight infection or simple airborne illnesses, causing extensive treatment of common pathogens and cancer treatment. The present review covers all topics, from diagnosis to treatment of pediatric leukemia, as well as the stages of growth and physiological changes throughout the process. As leukemia has a …

Utility Of Ultrasound/Photoacoustic Imaging For Accurate Catheter Tracking And Temperature Monitoring During Endovenous Laser Ablation, Ayushi Jharia, Keerthana Palani, Yan Yan

Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) Program 2016-17

Laser ablation is a treatment method that uses light energy through a catheter inserted into a vein to induce localized heat to close the diseased blood vessels. Ultrasound (US) imaging has been used for catheter visualization and tracking. US has limitations for tracking the accurate location of the fiber tip inside small perforating veins such as angular dependency and comet tail artifacts. We propose a robust and accurate method for fiber tip tracking using combined US and Photoacoustic (PA) imaging to overcome the existing limitations.

Studying The Optimal Scheduling For Controlling Prostate Cancer Under Intermittent Androgen Suppression, Sunil K. Dhar, Hans R. Chaudhry, Bruce G. Bukiet, Zhiming Ji, Nan Gao, Thomas W. Findley

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

This retrospective study shows that the majority of patients’ correlations between PSA and Testosterone during the on-treatment period is at least 0.90. Model-based duration calculations to control PSA levels during off-treatment are provided. There are two pairs of models. In one pair, the Generalized Linear Model and Mixed Model are both used to analyze the variability of PSA at the individual patient level by using the variable “Patient ID” as a repeated measure. In the second pair, Patient ID is not used as a repeated measure but additional baseline variables are included to analyze the variability of PSA.

Creation Of An Injectable In Situ Gelling Native Extracellular Matrix For Nucleus Pulposus Tissue Engineering, Rebecca A. Wachs, Ella N. Hoogenboezem, Hammad I. Huda, Shangjing Xin, Stacy L. Porvasnik, Christine E. Schmidt

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Background Context: Disc degeneration is the leading cause of low back pain and is often characterized by a loss of disc height, resulting from cleavage of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) present in the nucleus pulposus. Intact CSPGs are critical to water retention and maintenance of the nucleus osmotic pressure. Decellularization of healthy nucleus pulposus tissue has the potential to serve as an ideal matrix for tissue engineering of the disc because of the presence of native disc proteins and CSPGs. Injectable in situ gelling matrices are the most viable therapeutic option to prevent damage to the anulus fibrosus and future …

Theoretically Proposed Optimal Frequency For Ultrasound Induced Cartilage Restoration, April D. Miller, Anuradha Subramanian, Hendrik J. Viljoen

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background: Matching the frequency of the driving force to that of the system’s natural frequency of vibration results in greater amplitude response. Thus we hypothesize that applying ultrasound at the chondrocyte’s resonant frequency will result in greater deformation than applying similar ultrasound power at a frequency outside of the resonant bandwidth. Based on this resonant hypothesis, our group previously confirmed theoretically and experimentally that ultrasound stimulation of suspended chondrocytes at resonance (5 MHz) maximized gene expression of load inducible genes. However, this study was based on suspended chondrocytes. The resonant frequency of a chondrocyte does not only depend on the …

Calcium Phosphate As A Key Material For Socially Responsible Tissue Engineering, Vuk Uskoković, Victoria M. Wu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Socially responsible technologies are designed while taking into consideration the socioeconomic, geopolitical and environmental limitations of regions in which they will be implemented. In the medical context, this involves making therapeutic platforms more accessible and affordable to patients in poor regions of the world wherein a given disease is endemic. This often necessitates going against the reigning trend of making therapeutic nanoparticles ever more structurally complex and expensive. However, studies aimed at simplifying materials and formulations while maintaining the functionality and therapeutic response of their more complex counterparts seldom provoke a significant interest in the scientific community. In this review …

Diffusion Modeling And Device Development For Peritoneal Membrane Oxygenation, Liana Hatoum

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a pulmonary disease that causes hypoxemia and respiratory failure. The mortality rate for ARDS ranges between 27% and 45%. Current treatments including mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) are often associated with high risk complications including barotrauma, infection, thrombosis, and hemorrhage. Alternative pulmonary support techniques are needed to improve the survival rate of patients suffering from ARDS. Previous studies introducing pure O₂ gas, perfluorocarbons and red blood cells into the intraperitoneal (IP) cavity have reported no effect or only a mild increase in oxygenation. Here we report peritoneal membrane oxygenation (PMO) using …

Design Of Medical Devices For Diagnostics In The Gastrointestinal System, Charles R. Welch

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis presents the design, controls, and testing of two systems: a novel colonoscope locomotion design for diagnostics, and a biosensor capsule that implants a sensor in the small intestine. Each system requires special design considerations for use in the gastrointestinal system.

Colonoscopy procedures are recommended as a screening for colon cancer and related conditions after the age of 50. The need for an improved colonoscope that reduces the colonoscopy time and patient discomfort is apparent. The semi-autonomous device presented here could likely reduce the colonoscopy procedure time by allowing the physician to focus more on the diagnosis and less …

Biomarkers Used To Detect And Monitor Neurological Autoimmune Diseases, Robert Powers, Jay Reddy, Teklab Gebregiworgis, Chandirasegara Massilamany, Arunakumar Gangaplara, Zsolt Illes

Robert Powers Publications

Biomarkers of neurological autoimmune diseases are described, and methods of using such biomarkers also are described.

Autoimmune diseases arise from an inappropriate immune response by the body against Substances or tissues normally found in the body. Neurological autoimmune diseases are those autoimmune diseases that affect some aspect of the neurological system (e.g., the central nervous system or the peripheral nervous system). Biomarkers of one or more neu rological autoimmune diseases, especially those biomarkers that can be evaluated non-invasively, are useful in the art. Biomarkers of neurological autoimmune diseases are pro vided, and methods of using Such biomarkers also are pro …